64 UNITED STATES - AGRICULTURAIy ECONOMY IN GENERAI, 



In the first place the commission considers that the State should have 

 a land settlement policy and deal with this matter as a piiblic problem. 



In the greater part of the United States there has been little need for 

 public supervision of rural development. The kind of crops which can be 

 grown and the preliminary outlay they require are so restricted that little 

 variation in methods is possible. It is otherwise in California. There much 

 of the best land has to be irrigated, much has to be drained, and some has 

 to be protected against floods. Every acre of irrigated land must have a 

 right to water, and the character of such right is nearly as important as 

 the validity of the title to the land. To prepare some areas properly for 

 settlement involves an immense expenditure of money. It is practically 

 impossible for an immigrant to protect himself against misrepresentation 

 in these matters. 



Water and climate, as well as soil, influence the value of agricultural 

 land in much of California. Wherever irrigation is required plans for co- 

 lonies should provide for the efficient use of stream.s. As the irrigated area 

 extends and population increases, so does the demand for water increase 

 and in like measure the struggle for its control. In great irrigable areas, 

 like the San Joaquin and the Sacramento valleys, all agricultiire will in time 

 be bound together by a common dependence on the streams. For this rea- 

 son the ultimate results will be more satisfactory if colonization is carried 

 out in accordance with a carefully thought out plan embracing all the irri- 

 gable land in each watershed. 



State supervision of colonization ought not to include ordinary sales 

 of land among individuals but only enterprises, of sufiicient magnitude 

 to have public importance, which seek to attract settlers, unacquainted 

 with local conditions, from a distance or from a particular neighbourhood. 

 It should be the aim of such supervision to provide : i) that adequate at- 

 tention has been given to water supplies and drainage in irrigated areas ; 

 2) that tbe land is suited to the purposes for which it is being sold ; 3) that 

 there is no misrepresentation in advertising. It should also aim at helping 

 those engaged on colonization by pointing out to them features in their 

 plan which are likely to lead to failure. 



In the past settlers and land settlement have been helped by the large 

 increase in the price of land which accompanied development. This made 

 it pos.sible to borrow money for improvements or to sell a part of the ori- 

 ginal purchase for nearly as much as it all cost at first. This aid must be 

 replaced by a more generous system of personal credit and more efficient 

 and cheaper methods of preparing farms for intensive cultivation. 



The experience of other countries and of some American colonizing 

 enterprises indicates that it is cheaper for an organization having ample 

 capital to level and sow the land and finance the building of houses, rather 

 than leave this work to the individual settler. 



The commission makes the following suggestions as to the future financ- 

 ing of settlers in California : 



i) They should have from twenty to thirty years in"which to pay for 

 their land : 



